Snow-ball protector for horses  hoofs



(No Model.)

. T. P. SKELLENGER.

SNOWBALL PROTECTOR FOR HORSES HOOPS- NO. 469,603.

Patentedf'eb. 23,1892.

IN mvmk Wm fi A TTOFrNE Y S UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

THEODORE P. SKELLENGER, OF MORRISTOVN, ASSIGNOR TO DANIEL P. SKELLENGER, OF SOMERVILLE, NEW JERSEY.

SNOW-BAL L PROTECTOR FOR HORSES HOOFS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 469,603, dated February 23, 1892.

Application filed October 30, 1891. Serial No. 410,299. (No model.)

To (tZZ whom zit may concern.-

Be it known that l, THEODORE P. SKELLEN- GER, of Morristown, in the county of Morris and State of New Jersey, have invented a new and useful Packing-Slipper and Snow-Ball Protector for Horses Iloofs, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

My invention relates to an improved packing-slipper and snowballprotector especially adapted for use in connection with horses hoofs, and has for its object to provide a device of exceedingly simple, durable, and eco nomic construction and capable of being conveniently and expeditiously applied and removed.

A further object of the invention is to provide a device through the medium of which a salve or ointment of any kind may be applied to and kept in engagement with the bottom of the foot for a proper treatment thereof, and whereby, also, the device maybe used when the horse is beingdriven in the snow, at which time it will effectually act to prevent snow from balling under the foot.

The invention consists in the novel construction and combination of the several parts, as will be hereinafter fully set forth, and pointed out in the claims.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification, in which similar figures and letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in all the views.

Figure 1 is a perspective View of the device removed from the hoof, the pad thereof being partly broken away. Fig. 2 is a Vertical transverse section through the device, a shoe, and a portion of the hoof 5 and Fig. 3 is a perspective View of the device illustrated as applied to a hoof.

The slippers are made rights and lefts, and consist, mainly, of a foot-plate A, a stationary clamping-Wing B, and a hinged or movable wing C at the opposite side of the plate. The foot-plate may be of any suitable material, metal being preferred, and is shaped, essentially, to cover the bottom of a horses foot and neatly fit to the inner contour of the shoe 10 upon the foot.

Upon the upper face of the foot-plate a pad 11 of a desired thickness and of any suitable material is located, said pad being preferably firmly attached to the plate, and the pad is adapted to receive a salve, a cooling or softening lotion, or a poultice, to be applied to the hoof through the medium of the bottom thereof.

The stationary wing B preferably consists of a single piece of spring-wire secured at its respective ends to the heel and to the toe portion of the plate in any approved manner. From the plate the wing extends downward and horizontally outward, forming thereby front and rear stirrup-sections l2 and 13. From the stirrups the wire is carried upward to form standard-sections 14 and 15, the front standard being considerably longer than the rear one, and the standard-sections are connected at their upper ends by an outwardlycurved bridge-section l6, and at the upper portion of the front section of the Wing an extension 17 is formed, for a purpose to be hereinafter set forth.

The movable wing and the stationary w ng are alike in construction, with the exception that the standards of the movable wing have a hinged connection with its stirrups, as at O, the stirrups being fast to the plates, and usually the stirrups hinged to themovable Wing are formed from the same wire from which the stationary wing is constructed, said wire being continued over and beyond the plate. The movable wing is'located at the outer side of the foot-plate and swings outward.

\Vhen the device is to be used as a slipper in the stall or for exercise, the wings are drawn together by a strap 18,- having an attached buckle 19, and the buckle is preferably located adjacent to an extension 17 of one wing, the strap being also attached to saidwing and adapted to pass through the extension of the opposite wing and then through the buckle.

hen the slipper is to be used to prevent snow from balling under the hoof, a second strap 20 connects the Wings at their rear standards, crossing the lower heel portion of the hoof, and thereby preventing snow from crowding in upon the pad, and also affording to the shoe an additional fastening device.

hen the slipper is placed upon the hoof, the wings neatly conform to and clamp the round of the hoof. Thus but a single fastening device-the front strap-is all that is ordinarily needed, and as the wings at the inner'side of the hoof are smooth, the hinge bein g at the outer side, a horse wearing the sliptice or anointment of any description may be applied to the bottom of the foot to remove soreness from the hoof, and such application may be kept in constant engagement with the bottom as long as the slipper is worn.

The slippers are intended to be made in various sizes, and the stoutness of the parts of the slipper will be made proportionate to the I in contour to one outer side contour of a hoof, a second Wing of skeleton form having a hinged connection with the opposite side of the plate and conforming to the contour of the opposite side of the hoof, and an'adjustable connection between the two Wings,substantially as and for the purpose specified.

2. In a slipper for horses hoot's, the combination, with a foot-plate adapted to be located beneath the foot, of a stationary wing having astirru p connection with one side of the plate, stirrups projecting from the opposite side of the plate, a wing hinged tothe latter stirrups, and a strap connection between the two wings, as and for the purpose specified.

3. In a slipper for the hoofs of horses, the combination, with a foot-plate, of a wing having a stirrup connection with the plate, the said wing consisting of front and rear standards attached to the stirrup, the front standard being longer than the rear one and an outwardly-bowed bridge-section connecting the standards, stirrupslocated at the opposite sides of the plate and attached thereto, a second wing of like construction as the first pivoted to the stirrups, and an adjustable connecting device uniting the two wings, as and for the purpose set forth.

THEODORE P. SKELLENGER.

Witnesses:

AUGUSTUS W. CUTLER, ELMER KING. 

